COBI F-16AM Fighting Falcon Set 5913

COBI's F-16AM Fighting Falcon is a 1:48 model built from 495 blocks, 31.5 cm long, produced under licence from Lockheed Martin in Royal Norwegian Air Force colours. AIM-120 AMRAAM and IRIS-T missiles, GBU-12 Paveway II bombs and an ALQ-131 countermeasures pod are included, along with a Norwegian pilot figure, a display stand and a plate with both flags. All markings are printed; no stickers.

A parachute in the tail

Norwegian F-16s carry something almost no other F-16 has: a brake parachute, housed in a fairing at the base of the fin.

The reason is the ground. Norwegian airfields are short, often cut into difficult terrain, and for months of the year they are covered in ice. Wheel brakes on a wet or frozen runway do very little, and an aircraft landing at 250 km/h with nothing to slow it has a problem that no amount of skill solves.

The chute is a straightforward answer, and it is why Norwegian aircraft are recognisable at a glance. Several other northern operators adopted the same modification for the same reason.

Forty-two years

Norway was one of the four European partners in the 1975 purchase, and its F-16s flew over Kosovo, Afghanistan, Libya and the Baltic. The last operational Norwegian F-16 flight was on 6 January 2022.

The aircraft were not scrapped. Some went to Romania, some to private companies that provide adversary training, and Norway's fleet is now the F-35.

In the COBI range

Set 5910 is the Polish F-16C, 5914 the two-seat F-16D, and 5893 the F-16AM in Ukrainian colours.

Specifications

Pieces: 495 · Figures: 1 pilot · Scale: 1:48 · Licensed by Lockheed Martin · No stickers
Model dimensions: 31.5 × 23 × 11.5 cm (12.4 × 9.1 × 4.5 in)